Considering different salt brand

Wayne · #1 06-19-2010, 08:57 PM

I am currently running Instant Ocean. Now that my tank is much more reef oriented I am going to try either Instant Ocean Reef Crystals or D-D H2Ocean.

Anyone used both and have a preference? The price is about $25 more for the H2Ocean.

I already dose min quantities with essential elements, idoine, calcium (if low), and aragamilk between weekly water changes.

fencer · #2 06-19-2010, 09:18 PM

Why change if everything is still working okay

ponokareefer · #3 06-19-2010, 09:19 PM

I changed from a more expensive brand back to Instant Ocean due to the fact that I still had to dose with the more expensive brand.

Wayne · #4 06-19-2010, 09:40 PM

The reason I am considering change is that I am always dosing with calcium... I finally have my levels up now but for a while I was sitting at below 400.

PoonTang · #5 06-19-2010, 10:10 PM

Doesn't matter what your calcium starts at it will always go down if you have corals. You will have to dose calcium no matter what salt you use. For the 25$ that you spend extra on a bucket of salt you can get enough 2 part suppliment to last a year.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wayne · #6 06-19-2010, 11:35 PM

Hum I you guys are right. What are the benifits of these "reef" salts?

naesco · #7 06-19-2010, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne

Hum I you guys are right. What are the benifits of these "reef" salts?

The benefits are that both the salt producer and the LFS make higher margins.

mark · #8 06-19-2010, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne

Hum I you guys are right. What are the benifits of these "reef" salts?

so the producer can make more money.

It's as Poon said, corals and clams pull the Ca out of the water to grow, that's the reason for manual dosing/dosing pumps or Ca reactors

PoonTang · #9 06-19-2010, 11:48 PM

Pretty much it's just a matter of they have a bit more of everything in them or a slightly different balance. It's a never ending debate on which salt is best but personally I think that one need only look at some of the amazing tanks out there that run simply on good old IO.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wayne · #10 06-20-2010, 12:01 AM

Well then, I will just reallocate that money somewhere else in the tank then

What do you guys think of having the lights come on in the mourning (for feeding) then off during part of the day. Then back on when I get home and for the second feeding?

The problem that I am running into is that I leave for work at 6AM, so the lights come on and they don't get shut off till 10PM when I go to bed. So thats 16hrs of on time... No wonder why I have some green algae.

So can I split the on time during the day? Will the corals like that (mine receed when the lights turn off)